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While the Federal Government has many contracted auditors to assist in identifying overpayments to health care providers, by far the most dangerous of these auditors, from the health care provider’s perspective, is the ZPIC.

New reporting requirements for healthcare providers are scheduled to go into effect in January 2018 as a result of the mandate in Section 218(b) of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (PAMA). PAMA requires CMS to establish a program to promote ordering physicians to consult “appropriate use criteria” (AUC) prior to ordering advanced diagnostic imaging tests for Medicare beneficiaries.

Earlier this year, 91st General Assembly of the Arkansas State Legislature held a legislative session during which various acts were passed that are applicable to medical care and treatment. These acts include the Palliative Care Act, Wrongful Birth Civil Liability Protection Act, Patient Right-To-Know Act, POLST, Peer Review Fairness Act and the Telemedicine Act.

A process to come up with a standard national Chapter 13 Plan has resulted in a number of proposed changes to the Bankruptcy Rules which have a target effective date of December 1, 2017. A national chapter 13 Plan has been proposed and will be mandatory unless a judicial district opts-out by adopting a “Local Form” that complies with new bankruptcy rule 3015.1. Judicial districts in Arkansas appear poised to opt-out and adopt their own local plan but the form has not yet been finalized. Attorney Harry A. Light explains the proposed rules in more detail.